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The God that Awakens

And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount. We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts

“It’s always darkest before the dawn.”
The English theologian and historian Thomas Fuller is credited for coining this saying. In 1650, his religious travelogue ” A Pisgah-Sight Of Palestine And The Confines Thereof”, expressed this view.
At the midnight hour, God is awakening his servants the prophets to arise with the dawn and sing His praise and speak His vision in calling home the lost sheep.

Even in the midnight hour, the lone bird is unafraid to sing. After the first thrilling notes, he is soon joined by a symphony of song.

Awake up, my glory; awake, psaltery and harp: I myself will awake early

Mount Pisgah is the mountain from where Moses caught first sight of God’s Promised Land.

These things said he: and after that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep

Truth, Jesus loved Lazarus and his two sisters very much. Yet when He received the urgent request to heal this dear friend, He chose not to rush to his aid but stayed two days away.
Upon His arrival, both sisters were mourning the apparent lateness and assumed it was past time for a miracle, even insinuating that the death was unnecessary.
Yet Jesus speaks Truth and Life to those who believe. He commands them to remove
the tombstone – the stone of bitterness, of sorrow, of doubt, of unbelief to come under the light of His life and unfailing love.
Standing before the open tomb, He calls by name to Lazarus that he “Come Forth” and he does.

God’s ways are higher than ours. Human tends to grow weary in well-doing but our Lord neither slumbers or sleeps in His faithful watch over us. In due time, we reap if we faint not.

Delays are opportunities to remove all that blocks the truth and light.

This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby

Lazarus comes from the Hebrew name Eleazar meaning “God has helped” – Just as the prophet Azariah (God has helped) sent God’s word to King Asa, who in his darkest hour faced overwhelming dark forces.

King Asa’s name means “physician” and in Luke 4, Jesus says:
“You will surely say to me this proverb, Physician, heal yourself: whatever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in your country.”
Yet in Mark 6, He gives the reason.“A prophet is not without honor, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house. And he could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them. And he marvelled because of their unbelief.”
Unbelief the enemy’s weed rooted in pride, hinders The “Great Physician”.
God opposes the proud in the imaginations of their own hearts but gives grace to the humble.
Because of His great love, Christ commands in John 11:39, “Take ye away the stone.” It is the obedience to that command that trims the wick removing all doubt and unbelief.

Psalm 24 says to open the gates and the King of Glory enters in. Today comes the same Word of promise

Jeremiah 8:19-22, “Behold the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people because of them that dwell in a far country: Is not the LORD in Zion? is not her king in her? Why have they provoked me to anger with their graven images, and with strange vanities? The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved. For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt; I am black; astonishment hath taken hold on me. Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?“

King Asa knew that the testing of our faith produces a bold witness in the earth.
Romans 15:13, “Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.”

In our human state, we yearn for the healing balm of our Savior. But if the answer doesn’t come in our timing, do we hold on faithfully believing?
Does our faith lies in ruins held back by the tomb’s stone?
Upon receipt of the request, Jesus’ heart is towards the solution but the light of life comes in due time so that God’s glory is revealed.

In the Temple, it was the high priest alone who trimmed and dressed the lamp. He alone was responsible for the light shining.Jesus is the merciful and faithful high priest over the house of God; Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised)”

Jeremiah 31“Thus saith the LORD; A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rachel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not. Thus saith the LORD; Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears: for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the LORD; and they shall come again from the land of the enemy. And there is hope in thine end, saith the LORD, that thy children shall come again to their own border.”

Again, this same Jesus who appeared Suddenly to that “hellbent” persecutor of God’s children, one Saul of Tarsus on the way to Damascus.
The same Jesus is appearing everywhere to those persecuting His Father’s children.
The One that God sent to open blind eyes, awakens them to everlasting righteousness!

Acts 26: “ I saw in the way a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining round about me and them which journeyed with me. And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me? it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And He said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee….”

Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles,unto whom now I send thee, To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in Me

Holy trembling at the word of Christ draws unto Him, not driving us away. The children tremble, and come running to Him. To all that come, He gives the promise of a Place and a Name.

2 Peter 1:19, “We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts”